1. On May 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yeo Si-jae (Future Consensus Institute) co-hosted a webinar featuring global health strategy experts from Korea and the US who explored ways the two countries can help mitigate future pandemics.

° Participants from Korea included Jang Jae-bok, Ambassador for Public Diplomacy, Dr. Byung-jo Chun, COO and Chief Economist of Yeo Si-jae, Hong Yoon-chul, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Seoul National University and Policy Advisor to the WHO, and Ji Young-mi, CEO of Pasteur Institut Korea and a member of the WHO Emergency Committee for COVID-19.

° Participants from the US included Amanda Glassman, Vice President of Center for Global Development, and Thomas Bollyky, Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

2. Ambassador Jang stated in his welcoming remarks that increased cooperation between Korea and the US, two countries with experiences and capabilities in responding to a pandemic crisis such as COVID-19, could greatly enhance international solidarity and cooperation in combating global health crises.

° Furthermore, cooperation between Korea and the US on global issues, such as overcoming infectious diseases, will contribute to strengthening the friendly relations between the two countries into a comprehensive alliance.

3. Experts from both Korea and the US came to agree that health crises such as the outbreak of COVID-19 are issues of security and discussed the importance of international cooperation to improve and overcome future global health crises.

° For rapid response to infectious diseases, besides financial support, they acknowledged the necessity to establish an early detection system through information sharing among medical institutions and to establish a public health infrastructure, and exchanged views on mechanisms that could lead to such cooperation.

° The panelists discussed various practical ways to cooperate in the COVID-19 response process, including sharing information, promoting transparency, easing export controls, and broadening participation of international organizations and businesses, in order to establish a vaccine supply chain for mass production and distribution of high-quality vaccines within a short time frame.

4. Recognizing Korea’s potential for biopharmaceutical mass production capacity, the participants agreed that if Korea cooperates with the US, which has secured vaccine development infrastructure, the two countries could meaningfully contribute to improving the international community’s ability to respond to the health crisis.